Bible Study: Theory on Angels, Ghosts & Extra-Terrestrial Life
by The Righterzpen
Summary: Have you ever wondered what exactly is an angel, devil, ghost or extraterrestrial alien? What does the Bible say about stuff like this? Is it real? Is it plausible or are we just plain crazy?
1. Chapter 1 - What are Angels?

**Angels, Devils, Ghosts, Satan and... Extraterrestrial Life?**

Here is a subject I've studied off and on for several years and kind of like my Theory on the Origin of Evil, I'm just going to kind of throw this one out here. Much of this is conjecture, theory and hypothesis off of Bible studies I've done, where the Scripture does not give us exact and strait forward answers. Some of the theories are mine. Some are expanded upon theories borrowed from other ideas found in Christian thought, historical fact and scientific study. All of which (to the best of my knowledge) are in the public domain.

Also what can be found in these pages are some ideas of plausible explanations for Scripture passage harmonization of accounts that don't necessarily make sense on the surface. One of the major chunks of this study is an attempt at a sequence of what happened at the resurrection. A "read between the lines" if you will of some of the events. Now I will never dogmatically proclaim that these types of conjectures are "revealed from God" or "the way it really happened". They are mere plausible hypothesis that may be (or may not be) close to the truth of the real events that transpired. I do my best to try and accurately put together reasonable conclusions and contexts which my theories are drawn off of. They may be right, they may not be.

I welcome anyone who has questions, or if you notice something out of the Scripture, or proven historical, or scientific fact that I may have missed? Let me know. I'd be happy to look at it.

Also, on account of the length and the complexity of this study, it will be broken up more into chapters than some of the other Bible studies I've posted have been.

* * *

 _ **What is an angel?**_

Before I begin here though, I want to make one thing clear about the Greek and Hebrew. When the Scripture refers to "angel", the word is also translated "messenger". It is very clear in some of these contexts that the messenger is human. "David sent a messenger to King Saul." Obviously, that's a human messenger. In other cases angels are clearly entities other than man. Now according to deductive reasoning and church tradition, angels are often referred to as "spiritual beings". Now the Scripture never uses the word "spiritual" in reference to angels, so the idea is a bit ambiguous to our current understanding at least.

The only time "spiritual" is connected to the physical presence of something is in 1 Corinthians 15:44, where Paul makes mention of natural bodies being raised as spiritual bodies. Now what that exactly means, at current – I aint got the foggiest clue.

Now was Jesus resurrected as a "spiritual body". I tend to say "no", because the language of resurrection tends to state that the dead will be raised first, and then the believers will be changed into their incorruptible state, as the new heavens and the new earth are recreated. The other reason I tend to say that Jesus was not "raised a spiritual body" is that the body that went to the cross and was put in the tomb, is the one that rose from the dead. Now obviously Jesus was raised in a "physically healed up" state, although he still bore the scars from his ordeal. He did eat and people did touch him, just to prove that he indeed was resurrected and he was not a ghost.

Now I've heard people say that Jesus could walk through walls and stuff, but I believe that is a misreading of the Scripture. In the case where it says he "came through the door although it was locked" and also where it says "he vanished out of their sight". A closer reading of the text doesn't seem to indicate that these were any thing "super natural miraculous". I suppose one could say that it was supernatural for Jesus to be able to open the door although it was locked, just as the angels loosed Paul and Silas from prison and "their chains fell off"; but nowhere in any of these passages does it indicate that bodies or parts there of, passed through solid objects. In the passage where "he vanished out of their sight", the Greek actually indicates that it wasn't Jesus who vanished, but rather the sight of the disciples became "dim" and in their dimness, Jesus simply walked away.

" _ **Spiritual" life and Physical life:**_

Now to start out, angel, devils, ghosts and Satan are (sort of) in one category and extraterrestrial life is in another. Making an assumption here that since God did put life on this planet, it's certainly not out of the realm of possibility that He put life elsewhere in the universe. Which, as to kicking around in my own brain, the existence of angels and devils as written of in the Scripture, does support the proposition that there is life on planets other than Earth. After all, Hebrews 1:1-3 and 11:3 talk about the worlds (plural) God has created.

Now what sort of life may this be residing elsewhere in the universe? Is it of comparable intelligence to human life? Is it humanoid in form, also created in the image of God? Would it be plausible for Jesus to be incarnated on more than one planet at the same time? All this of course is speculation, since to what ever knowledge the general public may have of extraterrestrial life is unknown. Did something crash near Roswell, in the New Mexico desert in 1947? Yes! Was it of extraterrestrial origin? I don't know. Personally though, even looking through the lens of my Christian faith, I don't negate the possibility that it could have been.

So, here is where I'm going to jump off a little bit on angels. (Hang on to your hats, we'll tie this back into extraterrestrial life in a minute – and no, I'm not going to say angels are aliens or vice versa.)

 _ **Angels and Death:**_

Angels, we know obviously from the Scripture were created by God. They are life forms, who like the rest of life here on earth, are subject to destruction. This dawned on me one time when I was looking up something in Ezekiel that was talking about the angels who were showing Ezekiel these wheels. There is a reference in the Hebrew that describes their "dead bodies". Now I found this reference peculiar because the angels in this passage had not fallen, yet it was clear from the Hebrew that they were and would be subject to death. At first this confused me, but as I started to think of the redemption plan as a whole and Christ's redemption of the creation as well as of men, it made sense to me. If the universe came under condemnation on account of the sin of he who was created in God's image; (Adam and Eve) than yes, everything being subject to death (the end result of the fall) that makes sense. This struck me because here in the passage, it was talking about creatures who would still endure death though no fault of their own, but because of us.

Now what of angels (fallen and not) do we know? Well, Jesus makes reference to the fact that they do not marry, nor are given in marriage. (This reference is in all the gospels.) In John, Jesus talks about the point of marriage "being of this world"; is on account of the fact that death reigns in the current order of things and the reproduction of species being necessary: so thus why carbon based life reproduces. Angels we know are life forms on account of the fact that they are created by God. I'd come to the conclusion based on what I'd read in Ezekiel, as well as these passages in the gospels that talk about them not marrying, that they are not "carbon based" life forms. Their life span apparently runs the course of earthly history, and if Christ had not redeemed anyone (or the created order) they would perish in the end just like all other life forms. Interestingly though, life that has the ability (via a will) to transgress God's order of things, also has the capacity to come under God's condemnation. I know this sounds really strange, how can an animal come under God's wrath when it isn't created in God's image. It is an interesting question, but apparently it can happen. Genesis 9:5 talks about the life of man having been taken of either man or beast, being required of God from man or beast who took this life. (Ezekiel 14:13 also talks about the land sinning against God. Now how does land sin?)

So we know angels are life forms. They appear to be of comparable intelligence to humanity. They appear to have a life span that is equal to the history of the universe. The ones who have disobeyed will be cast into the Lake of Fire at the end of time. It is usually concluded that all "non human" angels that appear to humans, appear in human form and always look to be male. They do not appear to be carbon based. They do not reproduce, so thus by implication it would be unlikely that they would actually have organs to that purpose. (The Nephilim in Genesis were indeed remarkable human beings, yet just human beings. Since God "made everything after it's own kind" and we know angels don't reproduce, it would be erroneous to conclude that these people were some sort of angelic and human hybrid. Carbon based life is so specific to it's own DNA that we can't even cross mammals in the same groupings, none to say create life from two totally unrelated bases. (We don't even really know what angels are "made out of".) Besides this, anything of a fallen nature (angels or man) can not create life. Only God can do that, and only if He wills.

 _ **Nephilim and aliens:**_

The next hypothesis I've heard is that these Nephilim were a human / extraterrestrial humanoid hybrid. My first "knee jerk" reaction is to say no; although I suppose theoretically it is possible. (And now wouldn't this make a wild sci-fi movie. There's a Bible fan fiction to write!) Although, (and here's where I burst my own bubble) if speaking in terms of redemption; multiple separate races, all created in the image of God, would all need their own specific incarnation of the Messiah. Now this is theoretically possible, albeit how plausible is another question? This is how it would have had to have been, if these races never had any contact with each other; (all requiring their own version of Christ).

On the other hand though, it is theoretically possible to have inter-planetary contact between races bearing their own versions of the Messiah, just to find out He's is what they have in common. (I've written fan fiction of similar genre.) In thus said cases though, the races would have to be so genetically different that they would have no reproductive compatibility. If two groups were genetically compatible, that would essentially mean they were the same species and so thus one Messiah on one planet could atone for both planets. Now somewhere in this universe, that scenario is entirely possible. According to our own Scripture though, there is no indication that this has happened in our case; for in order for that to be true, some portion of humanity would have somehow left Earth a couple of millennium ago. The last scenario, (which would make this one possible) would work if some other extraterrestrial life form had taken humans from earth, only to have these humans return again sometime later. In thus said case though, they still would have been the same species, having originated on the same planet.

So all this being said, what does this have to do with angels and how would angels tie in to this? Well, all this proves is that presences of extraterrestrial life somewhere else in this universe is altogether possible, as angels are non human life forms of comparable intelligence. Now anyone who's read C.S. Lewis's space trilogy knows there's at least one other human who's invented races of humanoid type creatures who are not created in the image of God, yet for the same reason as the angels and the rest of creation "groaning and travailing in awaiting the revelation of the sons of men" anxiously await the human Messiah.

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Next - The "angels" at Christ's resurrection.


	2. Chapter 2 - Quantum Transportation

OK – intermediate chapter here.

* * *

Writer "autumnrose2010" raised a question in a PM about angels taking on human form being "temporarily carbon based".

Good question, one I had not thought about before.

I PM'd back, rather in jest even that this sounds a lot like a Star Trek transporter.

* * *

So, now that this has my brain. I got on the Internet and started looking up whether or not a transporter was even possible. I ran into a science type website that talked about Quantum Teleportation Theory. Well after looking at their explanation, I came to the conclusion that obviously this is theoretically possible. The main question that came up in the article though, was what constitutes our conscience and can that be "transported" just via molecular structures. The problem arises where you have to literally destroy the original to get the information in order to reassemble it some place else. So in essence you'd be "killing" the carbon based entity when transporting it and reassembling it. Of course this raises a Scriptural question, about what constitutes "life", "death" and "the soul". Now the other issue raised in the YouTube video was if you didn't destroy the original and reassembled the duplicate out of a new and different set of molecules, essentially you'd have a "molecular clone".

 _ **Cloning:**_

Now of course we know it's possible to clone. We've done that already. Yet that is taking life that already exists and duplicating it's genetics, not popping apart molecules we'd in essence "killed" and resembling them. God being the giver of life duplicates genetics all the time, so the whole notion of cloning and cloned entities obviously given the "breath of life", and in the case of a human, the clone (or multiple clones - such as in Star War's clone army) would also have its / their own soul(s).

 _ **Origin of Souls:**_

Now of course there is another question as to where do souls actually come from? Are they "made by God" in the "giving of the breath of life"? Were they "eternally existent", or are they part of the conception process?

I think it's safe to say that any created entity does not have an "eternally existent" soul; (meaning having no beginning and no end). That would bear characteristics of the Divine and since we know this created world is not "eternally existent" neither would a soul be. Now I believe there are all kinds of "souls" in the world. Plants and animals have "souls" they just don't have the same type of soul as a human. Same thing I think is also true of "non disembodied saint" angles. They would have an equivalent to a carbon based life form's soul, but bear the capacity to be a living independent entity apart from a carbon based existence. Hold that thought a minute, I want to come back here!

Are souls "made by God" in the "giving of the breath of life", or are they part of the natural conception process?

Now, I don't believe there are a "set number of souls". The waxing and waning reproductive capacity of a planetary system is a fluid thing. It needs to be fluid to be "endlessly creative" as a reflection of God's infinite ability. So, I don't believe God created a certain number of souls at the beginning of time that just await bodies conceived so they can be "thrown into them". The "breath of life" is an infinite "entity" / "a manifestation of God's capacity for infinity". I sort of see "the breath of life" like air. Do some life forms have more "breath of life" like they would require more or less oxygen dependent on the size or type of the body? I don't know. A "soul" though, we know is not like this. One person isn't given "more soul" than another. (Unless of course they are playing Blues music!)

 _ **Angels and Quantum Transportation Theory:**_

So, back to angels and the capacity to be a living independent entity apart from a carbon based existence. Obviously, we know that we as human beings can't do that. We have to be body and soul, one complete entity to be considered "alive". Angels (who are not disembodied saints) though, obviously are not that way. They can be a living independent entity apart from a carbon based existence. Now since they are complete already in that state, could they be "putting on" carbon form much in the same way quantum transportation would work? Theoretically and practically speaking, that seems entirely plausible to me. Angels would be able to "appear" and "disappear" in the world of quantum transportation without being disembodied because the essence of what they are is not carbon based to begin with! Their equivalent being that they could "dawn form" much the same way we "dawn clothing".

* * *

 _ **Thank you autumnrose2010!**_


	3. Chapter 3 - Angels at the Resurrectiion

_**The "Angels" at Christ's Resurrection:**_

Now before I move on to ghosts and Satan, I got one more tidbit of information I gleaned from looking at the Greek in the gospels. In the gospel of Mark, right at the resurrection, it says the Mary(s) come into the sepulcher and see a "young man sitting on the right side clothed in a long white garment..." Now the Greek there actually translates this as "new regenerate" sitting on the right side... The other gospels describe this scene as "an angel" (not a "new regenerate"), yet if we keep in mind that "angel" can also be "messenger", I think we can reasonably conclude that this particular one is a living human being.

Here's what I think happened. Keep in mind that events recorded in the gospels sometimes seem to contradict each other, but if we realize that events various gospels are talking about, could very well be things that happened more than once. (More than one gentile with a sick child came to Jesus. More than one woman with an issue of blood came to Jesus.) In this record of the resurrection, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb more than once.

Prior to dawn there's an earthquake. This I believe was the indicator that Christ was now alive again. This earthquake wakes Mary Magdalene up and she comes to the tomb alone before sunrise. (It probably woke up half Jerusalem.) I'm going to hypothesize that this happened shortly after 3 AM, on account of the number of soldiers who were at the tomb at the time. 3 AM would have been the changing of the watch; two soldiers coming on to watch and two soldiers leaving. In Jerusalem, there were two trumpet blasts that called soldiers to watch. (The colloquial term for this at the time was called "the cock crowing".) So from the time "the cock crowed" until the coming watch actually made it to the tomb, would have been at some point after 3 AM. (John's gospel) I believe there were 4 soldiers on account of what it says later in Matthew about "some of the watch" being bribed. Obviously this is plural and there would not have been more than two soldiers posted to guard a grave on a given watch. So thus is why I think this occurred during the change of watch.

An Angel comes down and rolls the stone away before Mary gets there. The Roman soldiers pass out from fear when they see the angel descend; although they never actually witnessed the resurrection. (Matthew's gospel)

Jesus emerges from the tomb without the grave clothes. (Either he folded up the head piece himself, or the angel(s) did? It's unclear from the text of how the grave clothes were found as to whether or not Jesus had any assistance in getting out of them, yet from a practical stand point, he very well may have "needed" it. (Remember that upon the raising of Lazarus, Jesus had instructed other people to "loose" him.)

Jesus's arms and legs would have been wrapped in place in semi mummy fashion and he would have been wrapped in a shroud. There were about 75 pounds of spices used, including Myrrh, which becomes is a gummy substance as it is used in burial. It was customary to stitch the (no less than three pieces) of burial garments together. It says the head piece was in a separate location than the "clothes" (shroud) and describes it as being "wrapped together". Now the shroud and spices weighted about 90lbs alone and if Jesus fell on the "1st Century bell curve" for Jewish mens' height and weight, he would have been between 4ft 11inches – 5ft 3inches and 110-130 lbs. So barring some miraculous transfiguration out of the shroud, (which from the description of the pieces being in different parts of the tomb, does not appear to be what happened) Jesus would have had to contend quite a bit with this sticky sewn up mess clinging to his flesh. (The sticky sewn up mess that would have been 2/3 to ¾ his living body weight.) So thus being said, I'm going to make an assumption here that the angel who rolled away the stone, (possibly also accompanied by a second angel) probably assisted Jesus out of the burial clothes.)

First human person on the scene was probably either the cemetery caretaker or his son. This I believe is the "new regenerate" the gospel of Mark is talking about. This young fellow's name is probably Cephas. One of the epistles says that "And he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve." (I Cor 15:3) Many interpret this "Cephas" to be Peter the disciple, but I don't think it is since the passage says he was seen of Cephas, then of the 12. Peter the disciple being one of the twelve and at that point even, one of 11 since Judas was dead. Later, the disciples "appoint" via "drawing of straws" who is to be number 12. (Again, same name, but I think it's a different person.)

Why do I think this was the cemetery's caretaker or his son? Two reasons:

First – The caretaker's family would have been the closest to the cemetery.

Second – When Mary sees Jesus, she thinks he's the caretaker. Now was this just a case of "silly Mary"? I don't think so. People in the first century were identified by the clothing they wore. This crossed over into all sorts of aspects of life like religious affiliation, occupation etc. It's likely that Mary thought Jesus was the caretaker based on the clothing he was wearing. Keep in mind that Jesus came out of the tomb naked and so thus the first person on the scene, obviously would have provided him with clothing.

Imagine being this caretaker person / son. He's probably in his late teens or early 20's. There's been all this ruckus this past week about this guy named Jesus who made a big stir in the temple, said he was going to rise from the dead. He'd just been crucified a day or so prior and he's buried in your cemetery. Suddenly this earthquake, (which probably woke nearly everyone in Jerusalem up) you jump out of bed and make a bee line for the door. You go running through the cemetery. You know where the guy is buried, since it's hard to miss the Roman soldiers who've been standing around there for the past day. You get to the grave and all the soldiers are unconscious, the stone is rolled away and here's this fellow standing there who obviously just came out of the tomb. What's the first thing that's going to pop into your head: "God it's true. He did rise from the dead!" Second thought: "Eh, I'll give you my cloak. Let's go get you some clothes."

They go off; Jesus probably to bathe in addition to getting dressed. (Who knows, he may have still had dried blood in his hair after so hastily having been buried, besides sticky goo all over his body.)

At this point it seems the soldiers have woken up and they leave and go into the city. Some of them come to report to the chief priests having seen the angel and also apparently noticed the stone to the tomb had been rolled away and that there was no corpse in the grave. The chief priests gather the assembly and they give the reporting soldiers a large sum of money to say they'd fallen asleep and the disciples came and stole the body. Interestingly though as recorded in the book of Matthew that "this saying is commonly reported among the Jews..."; it does not say this is commonly reported among the Romans! Although the "official story" was ….. ; it's quite likely that at least one of the soldiers had maintained the truth of what had happened. Matter of fact, that occurrence is quite common. For example, take a look at the footage from 9/11. The "official story" is different from what you are hearing from "the boots on the ground". (It also varies from the footage you are watching.) Just listen to the testimonies from any of the firemen or police officers who were in New York City at the time.

So, Mary shows up at the tomb. It's empty, she sees the stone has been rolled away. There is no indication that she sees the soldiers laying on the ground; for if she'd seen them unconscious, she probably would have come to a different conclusion. She makes the assumption someone took the body. She goes off to tell Peter and John that Jesus's body is gone. (John's gospel.)

* * *

 _Now here is where things get a little confusing as to what happened next, since it does seem that more than one set of people are making these journeys to the tomb, of which many it seems probably started out independent of each other. Now all the gospels have this event in a certain sequence, but how to tie that sequence together among the separate gospels is unclear. Some gospels have Mary Magdalene coming by herself before dawn, others say "at dawn" accompanied by other women and one says "after the Sabbath had passed" (meaning the sun had already set and it was technically now Sunday morning – what time Sunday morning is ambiguous though)._

 _In some of these accounts Mary is saying: "They stole the body." In other accounts she's saying: "He's risen from the dead." John's gospel has both Peter and John coming to the tomb. (John believes, Peter doesn't). Luke's gospel has just Peter returning to the tomb, and now he's questioning his disbelief._

* * *

The gospel of Matthew has the angel who rolled the stone away telling women (there only appears to be two women present in this account) that: "I know you seek Jesus who was crucified. He's risen as he said. Come see the place where the Lord lay." This gospel names Mary Magdalene and "the other Mary". It says they leave "with fear and great joy".

My hypothesis here is that when Mary Magdalene left the tomb the first time to find Peter and John, she'd encountered this "other Mary", who is later called "Mary the mother of James", (who would also have been Jesus's mother since it does not say "mother of James and John") and they return to the tomb the second time. Mary Magdalene still in her state of doubt and unbelief undoubtedly knew there was an angelic presence in this tomb, although just like John the Baptist's father in the temple with the angel who'd come to visit him; although others knew there was an angel there, he was the only one who saw it. So thus too, I say that of these two Mary(s), the one who is also probably Jesus's mother, is probably the only one who knew particularly what the angel had communicated.

So when these two Mary(s) return to the disciples, Peter is in one location and John is in another. I hypothesize that Mother Mary goes to John and Mary Magdalene goes to Peter. Two different messages. (They stole the body. / He rose from the dead.) I venture to conjecture that Mother Mary made it to John before Mary Magdalene made it to Peter. My other conjecture is that Mother Mary and John encounter another group of women on the way to Peter. Mother Mary takes these women (who are heading to the tomb to anoint the body) to the cemetery, while John goes on to find Peter. The book of John picks up right where Mary Magdalene shows up and gives her account to both Peter and John of what she thinks happened.

Peter and John head for the tomb. Mary Magdalene is still mired in doubt and follows Peter and John back to the tomb. John gets there first, but Peter goes inside first. John just stoops down and sees the grave clothes there and it says he believes. Peter does not though and the gospel of John says that the two disciples go back to their own homes, apparently both taking different routes. (John's gospel.)

The gospel of Mark seems to be the first incident where women coming to the tomb see "an angel". There is one person inside the tomb. This is the translation "young man", of which I believe may have been the gardener / gardener's son who'd been the first to find Jesus immediately after the resurrection. My guess would be he'd be returning to the tomb in expectation that other people would soon be arriving, which there does not seem to be any indication that at that time, he was aware of the angel who rolled the stone away. He apparently missed Mary Magdalene the fist time she came.

This group I conjecture to be Mother Mary who is returning with people she'd encountered after she'd left the tomb the first time. How many people (or who) are with her, it's not real clear, but in this account It states these women (besides Mother Mary, whom I'd assume would be trying to calm them) are too afraid to tell anyone what they'd seen. My second conjecture is that this occurs before Peter and John get to the tomb. Mother Mary (if I am correct and this really is Jesus's mother) would have left with the other women.

The gospel of John says that Mary Magdalene remains standing outside the tomb after Peter and John leave. The gospel of Luke seems to be the "intermediary" between non-belief and belief and very well may have been Mary Magdalene's second encountering of women coming to / returning to the tomb. This would make sense if besides Mother Mary, Salome would have gathered up the courage to tell some of the other women about what she'd / they'd seen (the young man in Mark's gospel) and were returning to show others. In this account, the women encounter two angles who now ask: "Why do you seek the living the dead?" They tell the women he's risen, he goes before you into Galilee, go tell the disciples. In this account they all went into the tomb and looked around and they all are leaving believing that Jesus is risen from the dead.

It does not seem that in their second encounter with two angels, that Mary Magdalene is immediately present. I believe she's in the vicinity of the tomb, but not a first hand witness to this at this time. These other women come away from the tomb and since Mary Magdalene is the first one they encounter, I would assume they'd tell her, although obviously she still doesn't quite believe them. So in this case, it seems everyone but Mary Magdalene goes to tell the disciples he's risen from the dead.

So we come back to the gospel of John, which records that Mary is outside crying when she decides to stoop down and take a look inside the tomb. There she sees the two angles and the angels ask her "Why are you crying?" She says: "They took my Lord away." She doesn't even give the angels a chance to answer her (nor does it seem to dawn on her what she's looking at). She turns around and just about bumps into Jesus. He asks her why she's crying and she says: "Sir if you have carried him away, tell me where he is and I will get him." Then it isn't until Jesus actually says her name that she recognizes his voice and realizes who he is. (John's gospel.)

The next thing that probably happened is Mary Magdalene tried to hug Jesus. He tells her. "Don't touch me. I've not yet ascended to the father." I know there is all kinds of interpretation as to what this means. The Da Vinci Code is one of the modern works of fiction that makes an assertion that Jesus and Mary were some how secretly married and she would have a child by him. Obviously anyone who knows their Christian theology well enough, would realize this idea would wreak all kinds of havoc with the redemption plan. Jesus had stated that the Holy Spirit would not come unless he went back to heaven. (John 16:7) Well, if he'd ever produced children, there would be no pouring out of the Spirit because Christ's presence would have still been on earth; which of course would have prevented anyone from being redeemed. So, so much for the Da Vinci Code.

Another thing I've discovered in my time reading church history, is that there's a lot of misconceptions as to who Mary Magdalene actually was. According to the Scripture, she seems to have been a wealthy woman who contributed financially to Jesus's ministry. She is named among wealthy women in one of the gospels. There is no Scriptural evidence that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. The "woman of reputation" named in the gospels (who was also named Mary) was most likely the sister of Lazarus and Martha. The Scripture does say Jesus cast 7 devils out of Mary Magdalene, but does not get specific as to "nature of sin" these devils may have been an influence in. The notion that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute comes out of Roman Catholic Church tradition.

So, I suppose it is fair to ask than why Jesus had said this to Mary, when obviously other women who encounter him later, it says they held his hands and feet and worshiped him? Also we read that disciples are touching him and sticking their fingers in his wounds etc. Did Mary Magdalene have some internal desire to marry Jesus, or was she just happy to see him? Who knows, the Scripture doesn't tell us that. Whether she did or didn't is immaterial though, for we know how the plan played out in the end and why Jesus never got married.

So Jesus tells Mary to go tell the disciples that he's risen from the dead and will be going on before them. As far as I can tell, this appears to be the last time disciples come to the tomb. The next appearance of Jesus to any of the disciples is on the road to Emmaus.

* * *

So here concludes this segment about angels at Christ's resurrection. The next segment will be on a theory about ghosts. Are they real? Are they demons? What are they?


	4. Chapter 4 - Paranormal Activity?

**Next Subject: Ghosts?**

* * *

 _ **Secular Theories, Technology and Truth:**_

Now for anyone who's watched "UFO Files" or "Ghost Hunters" or anything like that; it's easy to _**say**_ that what has been caught on tape is "ambiguous" at best. Some times it's easy to see the footage has been tampered with. Sometimes there is a reasonable geologic or physics explanation for an occurrence. (I'll cover some of these in a minute.) Other times though, I see things caught on tape and I scratch my head: What is that really?

I've seen a couple of episodes on "Ghost Hunters" that fall into the last category for me. As per my opinion of that particular program; it seems to me that most of the paranormal investigators featured on "Ghost Hunters" are basically honest people. Of course the show has a fair amount of interpersonal drama among the members of the team, but I think that's one of the elements that draws people to these quasi-reality TV shows in the first place. Some of the footage that has been shown on "Ghost Hunters" though, has raised the question for me as to whether or not the supernatural realm is actually "able to be photographed" and / or caught on other such devices we posses in this physical world?

Chapter two of this study brought up the question of "Quantum Transportation", as a scientific theory of being able to "teleport" biological entities from one place in the universe to another. The idea was raised that non-carbon based life forms may be able to "put on" carbon-based elements so as to appear in physical form in the material world. If this is indeed the case and is indeed what happens, than yes, it would make sense that you could photograph them in various states of materialization. Now is that what is actually happening in some of the footage on shows like "Ghost Hunters"? I don't know.

Before I get into talking about Biblical theories related to ghosts, angels and demons, I want to talk a bit about some of the more common phenomena that happens on some of these paranormal investigative shows.

 _ **Light Orbs and Electromagnetic Fields:**_

Many times, the presence of orbs of light is attributed to spirits haunting an area. These little orbs are frequently captured on camera. If you are walking in the woods, you may encounter them. I encountered a quite large one that flew past my head one evening in my living room. They make the hair on the back of your neck stand up and they can be a little unnerving to encounter. So, what are they?

These little orbs or balls of light are a geological phenomena. What they actually are, is balls of electromagnetic energy. The earth has an electromagnetic field and when the tectonic plates move, electromagnetic energy is released. Much like lightning that needs certain atmospheric conditions to "make lightening appear". These balls of electromagnetic energy need certain conditions to be made visible. This is why they are more common in wooded and rural areas than in cities. The fact that its usually darker in these areas and they are easier to see is another factor.

Now these balls of electromagnetic energy have a tendency to collect in areas where there is seismic activity. Earthquakes run the gambit of "1" on the Richter Scale to "10". You have to get up to about "3" or "4" before you can even feel an earthquake. So when these light orbs are present, if you look on a geological map, you will see that they congregate in areas where the earth's crust is thinner.

So what happens to a human being who gets too close to one of these light orbs and it passes through your body? Because we are also electrically charged (all organic life is); if you get in a certain range of free floating electromagnetic energy, you will draw it too yourself. The process is similar to being struck by lightening, although since electromagnetic fields aren't hardly as intense as lightening, people walk away with welts and discomforted feelings of "something passed through me". Now being struck by electromagnetic energy, depending on where it entered and exited your body, can cause you to hallucinate. People can walk through these fields and not even realize they've done so, because electromagnetic energy has varying degrees of strength. If the field is very weak and passed through the visual cortex, you may think you saw something running through the trees. If it's very strong it may knock you out. It depends on where you are in relation to the source and timing of the energy release.

Add to this scenario; electronic equipment. There are devices that can tell you where electromagnetic energy fields are and if you are carrying one of these devices looking for increase and or decrees in readings; if you "hit the right spot" you _**are**_ going to get "zapped". Anyone who watches these paranormal investigative shows has seen this. It happens quite frequently. Sometime I wonder how much some of these paranormal investigators really know about physics? They didn't get "bit by a ghost" but by an electromagnetic energy field.

Another thing that's "worth knowing" when it comes to electromagnetic fields is that electrical wiring that you encounter in buildings creates its own fields. It's no accident that "haunted buildings" are usually old. One thing contractors may do when working on an old building is to take an electromagnetic energy detection device to see if old wiring is emitting a field. If it is, this tells the the contractor that the wiring is still "hot" and was never properly disconnected from the electrical intake. Old "knob and tube" wiring is notorious for this type of thing.

Another factor for electromagnetic fields is that they tend to be strongest on the poles of their energy source. Guess what that means when translated into building terms. You got it, the strongest electromagnetic energy readings are going to be in basements and attics.

For example, there was one episode of "Ghost Hunters" where the team was investigating the armory in Buffalo NY. In one scene, the crew was walking a catwalk over the main armory floor accompanied by a couple of soldiers. One of the cameramen was walking behind everyone else when his camera bag suddenly flew up and hit him in the head. I'd stopped the video and watched it several times. I did not come off with the impression that the event was staged. The cameraman's arms were by his sides and he had something in each hand. It was obvious that he did not do this to himself; so what happened?

The best explanation I could come up with, was that obviously he had camera equipment in this bag. Camera equipment is made out of metal. Was there something in this camera bag that was magnetic, which would have had a strong reactive interaction by passing through a magnetic field, which could have caused the camera bag to move by itself? I don't know? He fell over, hit his head on the catwalk and obviously was injured, so the people with him appropriately stopped to aid him. If I'm remembering correctly, I believe he also had a welt on his back / shoulder which was interpreted as a "ghost bite". Obviously some sort of electrical charge had passed through his body.

Now finally, I touched on this a bit earlier when talking about magnetic fields passing through humans; but what do you suppose is the most common things people "see" when hallucinating from such an encounter? The answer is: "Grey forms that look like people." Yes, these may be interpreted at ghosts, aliens, angels or devils depending on the person's belief system. It's very well known in the circles of geologists who monitor seismic activity, that there's always an increase in sighting of ghosts, aliens, angels and devils just before and just after an earthquake.

Since this was something geologists picked up on, a university decided to test this theory and asked for participants who did not believe in ghosts and had not experienced anything they considered paranormal or supernatural. Electromagnetic energy can be created in a laboratory, so the researchers put helmets with electrodes attached on the subjects heads and began passing electromagnetic energy through their brains. The first thing they reported is feeling paralyzed. Next was the feeling that someone or something was in the room with them and finally they began to see gray humanoid forms. All of them experienced the same phenomenon, which gives some explanation to the common elements reported in "alien abduction" stories.

Now, electromagnetic energy fields are not the only thing that can cause this type of hallucination; epileptic seizures can also. Basically, epilepsy is where the internal electrical signals in the brain go haywire. Something triggers a discharge that sends a shock-wave through the brain (or through part of the brain). If these shock-waves last 10 seconds or longer, they will produce what is recognized clinically as "a seizure". Now anyone who knows anything about epilepsy knows there's all kinds of seizures. What the body does during a seizure depends on where the discharge passes through the brain and how much of the brain is affected by the discharge. Some parts of the visual cortex will produce what looks like flashing lights to the person experiencing the electrical interference. Other parts of the visual cortex will produce hallucinations that look like gray people. With the exception of watching a laboratory experiment, I've only ever witnessed this happen to one person. The person was my son. He was 8 years old, had just gone to bed and suddenly started screaming that there were gray people in his room. Now it could have been some free form electromagnetic field passing through his bedroom, but given the kid has epilepsy; I'd put my money on a seizure.

 _ **EVP – Electronic Voice Phenomena:**_

This is another thing seen in paranormal investigations. It is a device that records background noise in which investigators hope to pick up "spirit voices". Now the spirits are never very talkative. They only usually say one or two words and it's not like you can have conversions with them. Some of the natural explanations for EVP recordings are interference with radio transmissions and the fact that the human mind tends to look for patterns in random elements, so thus such recordings are interpreted as voices. This is likely true for most of these EVP recordings, although it may not be the case for all of them. I don't know? This to me is more of a questionable source than some of the video footage I've seen on "Ghost Hunters".

* * *

So, given the possibility that some of the footage caught may be real; lets start taking a look at this from the perspective of Scripture.


	5. Chapter 5 - Theories on the Afterlife

**Theories on the Afterlife:**

 _ **The Canon of Scripture:**_

The next question that comes up, related to ghosts, has to do with the canon of Scripture being complete and what God would allow to be happening now that the Bible is completely written? We know from the Scripture itself that its cannon is closed. God's purpose in revealing Himself, is that we'd come to believe and be redeemed. That is the whole point of the writing of Scripture to begin with. All that God wished to share that would bring about our redemption is in the Scripture, so there is no additional revelation coming from God. Christ was the fulfillment of what the prophets came to speak of, so there are no more prophets coming after him.

Now interpretation of what's written in the Scriptures about the last days and the end of time is another subject altogether; one of which I'm not going expound upon in-depth in this study. Aspects of "the end times" that are relevant to this subject, I will hit on without trying to muddy the waters too much.

We do know from the book of Revelation that Satan is loosed out of the bottomless pit just before the last day. We know that this world will come to look much like the world of Noah's day (where God wiped out nearly all of humanity because our wickedness) just before the end. There will arise systems, and philosophies etc. that are antithetical to God and His laws just before the end. The Scripture tells us of all this.

We also know though that all these things are communicated to humans through some sort of supernatural influence. Systems like communism, the eugenics movement, certain aspects of racism that postdate the "Age of Enlightenment" / "Age of Humanism", the reemergence of homosexuality as a lifestyle choice, certain aspects of post-modern thought, Social Darwinism, Darwinian evolutionary theory, the abortion industry, etc. are all "ideas strait out of hell". Some blame population explosion and industrialization, but much of this came about from the removal of moral and ethical discourse, along with its founding reference (the Bible) from the realm of public life. So, the more rare "common grace" becomes, the more we see a rise in violence, discord, economic woes, war and genocide in our "global society".

So, knowing that ideas / knowledge is "communicated" in the supernatural realm by "spirit witnessing with spirit"; how do we know what we are looking at in shows like "Ghost Hunters"? Are they disembodied human souls, demons, angels or what?

Well, first I'll tackle the question of angels and disembodied saints, because that will be the easiest to answer. Angels are defined as obedient to God, non-carbon based life forms, who's "life span" equals all our current understanding of time, they do not reproduce and sometimes "take on" carbon-based form. Disembodied saints are obviously believers who throughout the course of human history, have died and who's bodies have not been resurrected yet.

Something else just popped into my head; another idea to "throw out there". (Now that I've been wandering around my kitchen for 20 minutes drinking tea and mulling this over in my head, let me see if I can put it on virtual paper so it makes sense?)

 _ **Let me start with "the holy city".**_

The Scripture says that after the resurrection, some "bodies" were raised and "walked around in the holy city". There are 10 references to "the holy city" in Scripture. Half of them are in the Old Testament, half are in the new. The "holy city" is referred to as both Jerusalem and "the new Jerusalem". The book of Revelation describes the "new Jerusalem" as "coming down from God out of heaven". The earthly Jerusalem we know is a physical city in a geographical location.

Go back to Genesis and we have Abraham being visited by the king of Salem. The king of Salem is described as "having no beginning of days or end of life". He is what is often called in theological terms "a theophany" (visible manifestation to humans of God). "Salem" will become "Jerusalem" once the decedents of Abraham go to occupy it. These became the generations and the nation the Messiah would come through. Once Christ came, accomplished redemption and set up His kingdom (which now entails individuals from out of the entire human race, not just "revelation coming through one nation"); that which was just a picture of redemption is done away with in regards to its importance to the kingdom and purposes of God. (2 Corinthians 3) So although earthly Jerusalem still exists, the new Jerusalem, the "holy city" as it is accomplished in Christ, is what the believer is looking toward.

So, what happened when these "bodies" rose and "walked around in the holy city".

To answer this question, I'm going to give a Star Trek analogy to my hypothesis. In "Star Trek Voyager" there are several episodes where Voyager flies into a rift and ends up in what they call "fluidic space". Now "fluidic space" is kind of like a parallel universe. It is a place that has it's own life forms that exist outside Voyager's known universe of material origin. Life forms from fluidic space can come into Voyager's material universe (materialized as such as soon as they pass through the rift); and though the ship Voyager goes into fluidic space, and is protected by whatever shield mechanism it has, the life forms in the ship would not be able to survive in fluidic space because it is a different type of existence.

I hypothesize that the "new Jerusalem" as it is "coming down from God" is kind of like fluidic space, although it's not an "alternate universe", it's an "alternate state of existence" in a glorified "microcosm" of the new heavens and new earth. Just as this heavens and earth will be replaced by a glorious new heavens and new earth, I believe what this passage is telling us "walked around in the holy city" means that the "microcosm" of that "alternate state of existence" exists now even though the new heavens and the new earth are yet to be created.

When Christ rose from the grave, he proved to the physical world that he had paid the price and overcame the last enemy of "in the day that you eat of this fruit you shall surely die". That being accomplished, it also makes sense that the promise of a new heavens and new earth would also be proven by appearing in some "microcosmic form" in current time. I believe that this is where the bodies of certain resurrected saints would have gone and where Christ would have gone when he ascended to "the Father" after the resurrection.

" _ **Heaven" now:**_

Now the book of Revelation talks about "souls under the alter" in "heaven". These obviously are disembodied saints that are in the "presence of God". The passage also talks about "beasts" and "angels" being in the presence of God too. Now this begs the question of whether this is a literal place or the (or one) "state of an alternate reality". Obviously, a soul being a component of the natural world, must "reside" somewhere. Could it be that disembodied saints are still "residing" in this current universe (no longer bound by a carbon-based body) yet existing in the "presence of God" (who is "omnipresent" to boot). This would be akin to "residing in fluid space" with creatures not known to "Voyager's universe" yet certain entities (those obedient to God) can pass freely between these two existences. This though would still be a separate existence from the "new Jerusalem microcosm" of the new heavens and new earth.

So, we have:

"microcosm heavens and earth" (place where resurrected beings are residing awaiting the completed new heavens and new earth)

"heaven" (presence of God, that may not necessarily be a "place" but more a state of access)

"earth / universe" (current residence of the elemental world which includes all carbon-based and non-carbon based life forms as they have been created by God, including angels, devils and disembodied saints)

"Sheol" (holding place of unregenerate disembodied human souls that is part of the current "earth / universe")

 _ **Theories on Sheol:**_

So here is where I jump off into theories that come to us from out of church history. I'm not sure who first articulated this idea, but here it is. The theory is that before the death and resurrection of Christ, all the people who died prior to that point in linear history; all the souls of such were "housed" in an existence that had two parts. The "top" part was called "Abraham's bosom" and the bottom part was called "hell". When Christ rose from the dead, the souls in "Abraham's bosom" were let into "heaven" (or rather let into the presence of Christ). Those condemned to the Lake of Fire as described in Revelation were left in the bottom part called "hell".

This is commonly the interpretation given to Jesus entering hell and leading captivity captive. The theory is that he descended into the "top" of Sheol to release those out of Sheol. When we look at the gospels though, we find that just before Jesus dies he declares: "It is finished." and tells one of the thieves being crucified next to him: " _ **This**_ day you shall be with me in paradise." (He doesn't say "when I rise from the dead"; he says "This day...") Now this starts to get into another area of Bible study; particularly the atonement. (What, where, when, why and how) All those questions are left for anther Bible study that God willing, I'll get to posting sometime in the future. For all intent and purposes though of how the atonement applies to theories of Sheol; all I will say is that the entire penalty was paid / justice had been satisfied before Jesus physically died.

So, this "two part Sheol" theory does make sense on one level, but I don't think a "two part Sheol" would have been necessary. (I'll explain why in a minute.) The interesting thing we know about "Abraham's bosom" / "hell" is that the souls contained in these places are aware of each other's existence, as well as being aware of what's happening on earth. Jesus tells a parable about "the rich man and Lazarus" where with we get some of this information from.

Now Sheol in the Scripture is noted as "a place of silence". The literal translation is "place where they are not heard". They may not be "silent" as in not crying out for mercy, but rather they are "not heard" in that their cries go on not hearkened to. Therefore, Jesus says that it's a place of wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Also, consider the Psalm - "You have not left my soul in hell." (Reference to the atonement). As well as Jesus's words from the cross: "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" These two statements also, (considering Jesus is still physically alive) give credence to the idea that in this current course of this universe's time, being under the condemnation of God, does not necessarily entail a particular "location"; but rather a state of positional access. At least this is true for while a person is still alive. Obviously though, when the unregenerate die, they go to Sheol (hell) which is a place where they are not heard.

 _ **Living Saints and Dead Saints?**_

The other thing I noted from the "rich man and Lazarus" parable, is that because the rich man requests of Lazarus to go warn his brothers, we assume that Lazarus as a disembodied saint can communicate with the living, while the rich man cannot! (This is an important concept when we consider people trying to contact deceased loved ones, so hang on to it.)

Deceased saints being able to communicate with the living does seem to hold true in other parts of the Scripture. We see this when John is in record of the book of Revelation, bowing down before an angel and the angel says to him. "See that you do this not; for I am your fellow servant and of your brothers the prophets and of them which keep the saying of the book: worship God." (Revelation 22:9)

This passage though raises a very important question, because the book of Revelation tells us John was "in the Spirit on the Lord's day" present in a "place" where he sees the new Jerusalem. Now where exactly is John? We assume he's in "heaven"; yet obviously, we know he isn't dead yet. Could he be in this "microcosm new heavens / new earth"? It's a good question, since we know the living cannot pass into the presence of God without being rent from their carbon-based existence. 1 Corinthians 15 talks about how "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God".

The literal Greek says John was "in the breath"; which I think is a reference to the "breath of life" as it is given by God, being the essence that makes us alive. This is interesting to me, seeing how it seems to reiterate that John was not "dead" and "came back". He was "in the breath", which means he had to have been there (where ever there was) body and soul somehow, since he did not say he was having a dream. Now since we know that to be in the presence of the Lord, you must be absent from the body; I think the place John went, was probably this "microcosm new heavens and new earth".

Now how did John, still being in the flesh (alive) gain access to this "microcosm new heavens and new earth", if this is indeed where he went? The answer I believe is that God "opened the door" so John could see it, without physically entering it, or maybe that the only portion of him that could "enter" (temporarily) was the soul. In this case, it would be much more like the Star Trek Voyager analogy, where you are looking at not only an alternate state of existence; but also, a form of "parallel universe".

 _ **What happened to the Bodies of Moses and Elisha?**_

This now got me thinking about others in the Bible (before the resurrection of Christ) who had "interesting departures" from the earth. Elisha was taken up to heaven in a chariot. Satan contended with God over the body of Moses. (Moses who is said to have been "buried by God".) Were these people "translated" ahead of time into this "microcosm new heaves and new earth" prior to the resurrection and could this be why Satan contended with God over Moses's body? I think this is entirely possible and the reason why a two part Sheol was not needed.

Now we know Jesus had died, was buried and resurrected at a specific time in human history. We often recognize that those who lived before the resurrection were in a different predicament than those who came after the resurrection. To a certain extent, Scripturally this is true. One thing I think we tend to miss though is while the atonement took place within the parameters of linear time, it also took place outside the parameters of linear time.

Revelation tells us that Jesus was "the lamb slain from the foundations of the world". (Revelation 13:8) This "explains" to us in "somewhat simple terms" that the atonement was something special. Because it was an action performed by God in relation to dealing with His justice as it's applied to sin. The atonement itself didn't really "involve" the creation. Sure, it was human beings as well as the entire created order that became the recipients of the atoning work of Christ, but the temporal created thing could not contend with the wrath of Eternal God. Therefore, it had to be God who atoned for sin. On the flip side of this, because humans are created in the image of God (being also of material substance) God had to be incarnated in the likeness of the first Adam to overcome what the first Adam was not capable of overcoming on account of his temporal / non-eternal (and now polluted on account of sin) existence.

Other thing I noticed, when we look at the accounts of the transfiguration, who do we see has appeared with Jesus; Moses and Elisha. Interestingly, Moses and Elisha are the two individuals whom had an "interesting departure" from earth upon their deaths. Had they appeared in material form during this event because they had already received "new heavens and new earth" bodies? It's a good question; one of which I can't say I have an answer to, only this theory.

Comparing this now to the "rich man and Lazarus" parable; we see that disembodied saints can communicate with the living, but disembodied unregenerate cannot. What does this tell us about "ghosts"? Hold that thought a minute more. Back to "canon of Scripture" and what is God allowing today?

 _ **Communication with the Dead:**_

Now we know that no further direct revelation is coming from God. The Holy Spirit still does open our understanding that we can correctly interpret the Scriptures we have; but none of us are in receipt of new messages. Do disembodied saints (or angels) still have a role in the enlightening of the understanding of the living? I don't know the answer to that. "Angels" are described in the Scripture as "ministering spirits". I don't know if these are the disembodied saint type of "angels" or the non-carbon based life form type of "angels". We also know from Revelation that disembodied saints do pray for the living on earth. They pray for the expedience of the word that the elect may come into the kingdom, so the new heavens and new earth can be ushered in.

On another note; "Angels" do offer protection to the living, who are yet to complete their earthly missions in this life. If I am correct in the hypothesis that it is the non-carbon based life form angel that can "put on" "carbon based powers", and disembodied saints can't, (because their "carbon base" is no longer part of their current existence, for if that were possible they'd be considered "alive" again); then, reason would tell us that it would have to be non-carbon based life form angels that would have to be protectors.

* * *

So, I will end this segment here; since this chapter is lengthy as it is and in the next chapter, I will be talking about demons.


	6. Chapter 6 - demons

_**So, with that in mind, let's talk about demons.**_

By church tradition, demons are explained to us as "fallen angels". Now given the sequence of hypothesis I've just gone through, that assertion does make sense. Here is where we get a monkey wrench thrown in the works though, since "evil" (or calamity) and "spirit" can carry a wide variety of meanings.

"Evil" and "spirit" can be as benign as "Tom has a sorrowful spirit because his mother died." Now that context is pretty understandable and most would not imply (under normal circumstances) that Tom is possessed by devils. On the other end of the spectrum though, we have people who commit heinous crimes are often seen as "possessed by The Devil". The third monkey wrench that gets thrown in here also though, is that there are times when terminology of "evil spirit" is used to describe something we'd label as a medical condition now; such as epilepsy or cerebral palsy.

Some aspect of "evil spirits" might be well explained by what psychology deems as "addiction model" today. Alcoholism, sexual abuse, domestic violence and other dysfunctional family systems are often seen as having their own "accompanying demons"; which could be labeled as traits of personality that are easily identifiable of the roles people play in those systems. Is this just a nuance of Scriptural language used prior to the advent of psychological labels to pin on these behaviors? That could be; but it could also entail external non-carbon influences exerted on a human soul. I think the "real world" (and wisest) answer to this is "either" and "both".

Now, let's do some comparing and contrasting here as to "possibilities" of "different types of demons". We know the Scriptures name different types of angels. There are Seraphim and Cherubim, beasts and other types of creatures that seem to have their parallel in the system of species of carbon-based life forms. There appear to be more types of demons and evil spirits than there are types of angels named; but I think some of that is nuance of language description.

As mentioned before we have:

"emotion / spirits"

"medical / spirits"

"addition / spirits"

Along with the possible variety of non-carbon based life form "fallen angelic spirits"

Now the first "emotion / medical / addiction" seem to be born out of some aspect of a person's carbon-based being. Emotions are linked to brain chemicals and medical conditions can affect behavior. Addictive behavior can be driven by either emotions / medical issues, both or "other". These "evil spirits" are "self limiting" to the individual whom they "possess". All of these which can be dealt with to varying degrees, with behavior modification and/or medical intervention. They exist like parasites which "die" with the "host", or can be "passed on" either genetically (medical problems) and / or in a dysfunctional behavioral system outside of the "host". They are also capable of being discarded by the "host", which for all intent and purposes they "die" at that point. It's quite clear from Scripture that some "demons" or "evil spirits" fall into this type of category.

Now can a person be possessed by a non-carbon based fallen angelic spirit? According to traditional church understanding of the Scripture, that also appears to be the case.

 _ **Non-carbon based fallen angels and material manifestations:**_  
Now assuming these types of demons are of the same non-carbon based life form as obedient angels, they would also be able to exercise an ability to manifest themselves in the physical world. If obedient angels can appear as human beings, it would be reasonable to conclude that so can disobedient angels.

Here's the clincher though. Since the canon of Scripture is closed and no additional revelation is coming to man through the Holy Spirit or angels, there would be no obedient angels manifesting themselves in carbon-based solid form any more. So, if God by decree has closed the door to obedient angels doing this, has He closed the door to demons doing this? I believe the answer to that question is yes and for a couple of reasons:

First – God is not going to allow certain ability to demonic forces that He is not exercising of His own obedient forces. The basic reasoning for this assertion is that the forces of Satan being thus defeated, would not be able to "force" God's hand in the exercise of powers they may have been given originally.

Secondly – God is not a god of confusion. When He "closed" the supernatural world, to the extent that He has, He is still pointing us to where the truth is. Just as supernatural wonders followed the believers to show forth where the truth was emanating from (as they were still penning the Scripture), once the canon was completed, that door closed until the day Christ returns.

Now what's one way that we know this? The Scripture does say that in the end times, the agents of evil will come performing "lying signs and wonders". Now of course we know Satan, or his cronies have never healed anyone. Not only is that antithetical to his nature, he can't. Healing, by the very definition of what it is, entails the power to "create". Satan can't "create" anything.

This of course brings to bear the question of what is "supernatural"? Now, I think would be a good time to make a distinction between a supernatural event and a Biblical miracle. If I go to the doctor, get some antibiotics and am "healed" of an infection that would have otherwise killed me. Is that a miracle? In a certain sense, we could say that it is, (it's certainly an act of God performed in His Divine providence) we might even say something is "supernatural"; but it's not a Biblical miracle.

 _ **What were Biblical miracles?**_

One thing I notice with Biblical events, is that they demonstrate some property of God's Divinity. There were creative miracles; (healing people, conception of the barren, the incarnation of Christ).

There were miracles that demonstrated God's power over the physics of the universe; (parting the sea, some of the plagues on Egypt, turning water into wine).

There were miracles that demonstrated God's sovereignty over time; (stopping the sun, raising the dead (which involves reversing entropy).

There were miracles that demonstrate His infinite power; (manna in the wilderness, multiplying loaves and fish).

Finally, there were miraculous events that demonstrated God's authority to pass judgment; (flooding the earth, the angel of death, the darkening of the sun and moon at the crucifixion). Prophecy that involved telling someone what would happen in the future, was a demonstration of God's omniscience.

These were not magician's tricks. They were not optical illusions. They weren't movie clips spliced together. They weren't computer animation. They were events that countered the natural laws that govern the universe. They were instantaneous. They were complete. They were verifiable. They were not subject to someone's arguable interpretation.

Compare this definition to that of a lying sign and wonder. Lying signs and wonders are performances that base the quality of their performance on the ability to deceive the witness. Today we understand them primarily as magic tricks. Sadly though, today anyone who claims a "Biblical miracle"; we are either looking at a "natural miracle" (someone getting well), a "case of mistaken identity" (something that is not verifiable - "I went to the doctor, he said I had cancer and now the tests are clean!"), or the person is flat out lying. I've yet to see a true verifiable miracle; like a group home full of profoundly mentally retarded individuals confined to wheelchairs is suddenly healed. Someone walks into St. Jude's Hospital and cures all the kids with cancer. Now those would be Biblical miracles and these indeed had equivalent events in past history. It was crowds of thousands who came to Jesus to both be healed and hear him preach. Just imagine the media ruckus that would surround him today if his first advent had been in our era.

Now, why do I make this point in a study about ghosts, why is it important?

To answer this, let's talk a bit about Harry Houdini. Most of us know Houdini was a magician and an escape artist. He was very good at his trade. One thing I'm not sure many know about Houdini is that he became involved in the "Spiritism" movement. I do not recall the circumstances of Harry Houdini's mother's death, but I do know he had a great desire to contact her. He went to many mediums and tried repeatedly to contact his mother. Finally, he got to the point where he was so disillusioned with the movement and disgusted with these people, that he presented a challenge. The challenge went along the lines of "I Harry Houdini will prove you are a fraud. If I can't prove you are a fraud. I will pay you X amount of money." Many lined up for the challenge initially, but as Houdini proved they were frauds, those willing to undergo the test, dwindled significantly. Now Harry set out to prove they were all frauds and this he did quite successfully. He could expose them all, because he knew every trick in the book. So, invariably Harry Houdini proved to the public something the Scriptures already tell us; that the unregenerate dead cannot communicate with the living.

So, since disembodied saints don't communicate with the living and the unregenerate dead can't; what of footage seen on shows like "Ghost Hunters", that portrays things like partial manifestations of human forms, or "shadow people"; (as they are often called, which are darkened forms that resemble humans).

Now some may argue that this is doctored footage and I will grant to those, that they may be correct. Personally, I'm not convinced it's all fake though. Now if partial manifestations of non-carbon based entities are what is indeed being captured on this footage, the only conclusion we could draw from Scripture; (in the time and place we are now) is that these entities would be demonic. The only reason they could partially manifest themselves, is that they have been denied the ability to "fully put on" a carbon molecular form. Of course being disobedient entities, being denied the ability, would not necessarily prevent them from trying and this is why I believe it's certainly possible that their efforts would be able to be recorded on tape.

" _ **Evil Spirits" or "Non-carbon based fallen angels"?**_

Now another thing we know the Scriptures tell us about demons is that they are capable of "possessing" other life forms. How exactly they do that, I'm not sure; but we do have examples of this in Scripture. Their "favorite" host to "occupy" apparently are human beings, but they have been known to flee into animals.

And here is something I was pondering when the story of Balaam's donkey came to mind. (Numbers 22) Now here is an incident where this false prophet is riding a donkey. The animal veers to one side and than the other and Balaam begins beating her. (The donkey is doing this because she sees an angel in her path with a sword drawn.) Suddenly the donkey starts to talk to Balaam. Now of course this is interesting from a physiological vanish point, since donkeys don't have the cerebral cortex, or possibly even the vocal mechanism to be able to utilize human language. How did this donkey start talking than? Well, my theory is that she was possessed by another angelic being, which provided the venue to be able to translate her donkey thoughts into human speech.

Now of course the message she gave Balaam was significant to the story; but I think this could also be giving us some interesting information about the cognitive intelligence of animal life, as well as some of the possible capabilities of angels. I'd mentioned earlier that I believe animals have souls, they just aren't the same as human souls. A donkey articulating rather sophisticated thought processes is an intriguing thing; but so is the idea of an angel being the conduit thereof. If angels are "ministering spirits" who "give voice" to unspoken prayers, one acting in this capacity for this donkey does make sense. Now if that's what actually happened; I don't know? It is an intriguing hypothesis though.

So, continuing on with the theme of angelic beings and carbon-based animal life; there is an example in the gospels, where Jesus casts out a group of demons, who than request to go into a heard of swine and eventually run over a cliff and are destroyed in a body of water. This story, of course brings up a good question. Can demons be "put to death" in like manner as carbon-based life? These passages in Mark and Luke seem to indicate that is a possibility. The verb of "choking" in the sea is imperfect tense, indicating that the action of (their) choking took place at a particular point in time. It's not a continuous action indicating a continuous "under the wrath of God" at that specific time. Now of course this could be talking about the pigs choking, as it seems from Scripture that the natural life span of an angel is the duration of time as we understand it.

If we take a look though at two other passages (Mk 1:24 & Lk 4:34) it's quite clear here that devils can be put to death, for in these passages, it is these demons that are asking Jesus: "Are you come to destroy us?" In both gospels, Jesus tells these devils to hold their peace and "come out of him". Now the phrase "come out of" has an interesting nuance to it. It indicates point of origin. The next phrase "and he came out of him"; is of different nuance than the first. This phrase means "to come away from" (or off of).

So if in the case of these passages in Mark and Luke; if this devil's origin started with this individual, commencing at some point in the person's life, this would seem to indicate that devils (or certain types of devils as mentioned above) could very well be some byproduct / creation birthed out of human sin? So thus my a fore mentioned point about certain types of "devils" exist like parasites. They can not survive without a host organism, which could be why these certain ones cast out of a person requested to go into the swine? Of course this would indicate that these particular devils were separate entities from the host. None the less, there is not any other information given us about the nature of the "uncleanness" of these devils. The only clue we have is that this took place in the synagogue in Capernum. So it's possible that these demons were unclean in the sense of exercising false religion.

The other thing that is interesting about these devils is that they say to Jesus "Are you come to destroy us?" It's not clear from the language who the "us" is that they are referring to, although since the pronoun used is a personal pronoun, (referring to a specific identifiable person) the assumption is that they are also talking about the human host. Jesus's answer is interesting too because he never gives these devils a specific "yes" or "no" answer, only that he tells them to leave the person. In both passages they depart without causing the death of the human host. The question still remains though is what happened to these devils after they left the affected person? I don't have a definitive answer on that, but based on the nature of the question they asked Jesus; their departing very well may have caused their "death". This certainly appears to be the case for the devils who inhabited the swine.

 _ **Mental Illness and Demonic Possession?**_

Now looking at this passage about the demons going into the swine; we see they originally came out of a man who'd probably be classified as schizophrenic, or maybe DID (disassociative identity disorder) today. Is this passage teaching us that such types (or even all types) of mental illness are demonic in nature?

I know there are people who have come to that conclusion; although I would not be so quick to say that. Others have concluded that some people classified as "mentally ill", they believe are demon possessed, while others are not. I think that is a much fairer assessment. Although I would also point out that there are people who I'd say are demon possessed, who would not be classified with a psychiatric disorder under any diagnostic criteria. So though mental illness and demon possession appear to have some correlations, they are not mutually exclusive to one another.

The other factor that has made me "scratch my head" when it comes to people's theories of mental illness and demon possession; is what of cases successfully managed with medication? Reason would have it that an external entity that is influencing the thoughts and behaviors of a host, would not be controllable with anti-psychotics. So thus in a case like that, we'd have to conclude that the problem is an organic brain issue.

Another factor is that certain types of therapies have better success rates for particular psychiatric disorders than others. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is quite effective for things like PTSD and depression, since it is true that how we think about a subject most certainly can affect our mood. I think it's important to note though that therapies and medications are just tools to manage these issues and rarely "cure" anyone. This of course is another interesting nuance of the question of demon possession and mental illness. The "proverbial demons" that can be managed by good medical care and strong social supports, I would not classify as extra non-carbon based life forms who exert destructive influence on a host.

 _ **Demons and False Religion:**_

Now here is another subject to be circumspect about. Although it's easy to say that generally speaking, false religion has inherent in it's nature, Satanic influences; I think it's also wise to be humbly cautious of falsehoods that creep into our own thoughts and belief systems. I think it's part of our fallen nature to be easily deceived. Anyone who's been a Christian for any length of time can certainly see a progression in their growth in faith and recognition of truth from error.

The path of wisdom here is to be humble, as well as a diligent searcher for truth in the Scripture. This I think is the best way to keep oneself from following down silly bunny trails of self deception, even as we ask hard questions and ponder the difficult things to understand. I don't think the problem is in asking the questions. The problem comes when we think we know and we don't really. Some of these answers become apparent with more study and better understanding of the Scripture. Some answers make more sense with a better understanding of the natural world. God designed both and uses both. This is one of the reasons He tells us that the creation bears a testimony of its own.

 _ **Demons and Judgment:**_  
The book of Revelation tells us that the devil and the beast are cast into the lake of fire. Making an assumption that Satan is a fallen angel, is where church tradition comes to the conclusion that fallen angels are also cast into the lake of fire, although the Scripture does not say _**that**_ specifically. If church tradition is correct, than that is a reasonable conclusion to come to, although I can not say that I know for sure this is the case? Again though, this may be true for certain "types" of demons, but not for others. The "others" being the self limiting "evil spirits" who are "done away with" upon the part of the host's recovery process, or their death.

The question of devils being killed and also being cast into hades, where the unregenerate dead are also held (unheard and unseen) is also a possibility. We know the Scripture says that believers will judge angels, (1 Cor 6:3) so thus we also know they will face consequences for their actions. Of course this does not answer the question of whether or not they can be killed; but it seems a logical conclusion that they could be killed, since we know they are also subject to death.

* * *

 _ **Conclusion:**_

So here concludes this study; unless or until I think of something else? Questions, or other ideas to "chew on" are always welcome. I extend my thanks to those who have already contributed to such conversations. Thank you all for your interest in the subject material.


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